Animal
by DawnNephilim77
Summary: James Potter has been doting on one Miss. Lily Evans for a while, but can he pull himself together in his seventh year, while everything seems perfect for attaining the unattainable, enough to get the girl he wants?


**AN: The next chapter will be in sixth year, that's where the story begins…**

**PROLOGUE**

During the summer, James Potter hadn't been able to wait for his first day at Hogwarts, it seemed a beautiful dream, it's tall turrets and yellow-lit windows were a fantasy, waiting to be lived. He had seen photos, but his greatest ambition was to see it in person, to smell the great hall's feast, to feel the cold stone floors beneath his feet. When he had received his letter he had been filled with an uncontrollable elation, the yellowed paper and green ink were the keys to his oft-visited daydream.

Now, facing the stone pillar that was the gateway to platform 9 3/4, he wasn't so sure, his stomach was doing tumble turns as he ran at the barrier, forgetting that he was to be totally inconspicuous. He had always been a confident boy, always walking with a slight spring in his step, always in the knowledge that he had the power to be better than half the people he saw, but today he wasn't so sure. James Potter had always been a pale boy, but today he was almost ghostly, whether or not anyone had noticed his unusually unsure disposition he didn't know. And he didn't particularly want anyone to realise.

At least he was having a better time than most, he thought as he looked around the platform, a small redheaded girl was pleading with her sister, who was trying to look as though the girl clinging onto her was something foul, although only managed a look of jealousy.

"-I'm sorry, Tuney, I'm sorry! Listen-" Was all he caught of the insistent girls words, she looked about his age, on the skinny side though. The greasy, lanky boy that kept glancing at her wasn't very happy either; it seemed, in fact, James decided, he wasn't in such a bad situation after all. He waved a goodbye to his mother, and gave her a sort of embarrassed half hug before boarding the train.

Once he finally found a free compartment and sat down, he thought about what Hogwarts would be like, resurfacing from his daydream only when a boy of about his age with black hair that, unlike his, was neat and styled, and eyes the colour of dark chocolate, came in. He slid the door shut behind him, looking glad to have found an escape from the other students.

"Sirius Black." The boy said as he held his hand out, James shook it gratefully before introducing himself as well. They started to make some more introductory conversation before two other people came in. The two newcomers were the petite red head from earlier on the platform and the neglected boy that had kept staring at her, James and Sirius paid little attention to them. At least, until the subject of houses came up.

"Slytherin?" James asked Sirius, "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" Sirius looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin." Said Sirius rather glumly; James broke into a grin.

"Blimey! And I thought you seemed all right!" The messy black haired boy exclaimed, Sirius returned his grin at once.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?" Sirius asked, although he was doubtful that he'd be anything but Slytherin, his whole family before him had been in Slytherin, and he didn't believe the hat would take his wishes to be in Gryffindor over the choice his blood made.

James gestured to lift an invisible sword and exclaimed the Gryffindor motto, claiming that he _had_ to be in Gryffindor, because of his father. This did not make Sirius feel any more confident about his need to be apart from his family's tradition. James and Sirius were vaguely aware of the snort at their antics emanating from the other boy in the carriage, and turned to him immediately.

"Got a problem with that?" James asked icily.

"No," said the greasy boy insincerely, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy…" The boy trailed off.

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" asked Sirius innocently, making James guffaw with laughter. The girl stood up, gesturing to the boy to follow.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment." She said haughtily, and an image popped into James' head. He tried to trip Severus as he went past, only stopping his laughter to shout:

"See ya, _Snivellus_!" To Severus' retreating figure. Sirius looked at James.

"Snivellus? Brilliant!" He exclaimed, thinking about the many things he wanted to do to Severus, for no reason whatsoever, and also about how well he thought his friendship with James would work out.

Not soon after two other boys, who looked to be in their year, joined them. One was average height and sallow, with light brown hair and eyes the exact same shade; the other was squat and chubby, with a rat-like nose and small, excited eyes.

"Is it okay if we sit here?" Asked the taller of the two, Sirius and James nodded, not really wanting to be impolite by saying no and not really wanting a replay of the previous experience. "I'm Remus, by the way." Said the sandy haired boy, James and Sirius shook hands with him, he didn't seem too bad, but lacking in confidence and evidently badly cared for.

"Peter." Said the smaller boy, in a squeaky voice that fitted him well, James and Sirius shook hands with him too, but were a little more wary of him.

"I'm Sirius, Sirius Black."

"Black? As in… Black?" Remus looked somewhat intimidated by the new knowledge, as if Sirius was about to start firing curses at him.

"And I'm James Potter," Said James, aware but unruffled by Sirius' mood, which was growing slowly, but steadily, darker at every mention of family. Peter looked up at the two pureblood boys in awe; he was meeting representatives of the few pureblood families in the wizarding world. "Sit then! Really, the first decent people to come to this compartment and you're afraid of a seat!" This earned a smile from Remus, who at the time looked to be afraid of his own shadow.

Twenty minutes later, once the sweets trolley had been and gone, and the boys had changed into their robes, they arrived at Hogwarts. The black lake glittered with the light of the lanterns as the boats went over.

"Firs' years over 'ere!" Cried an abnormally tall man with a thick bushy beard. "Come over 'ere! M' name's Rubeus Hagrid, I'm the groundskeeper 'ere at 'ogwarts. Alrigh', four to a boat, no more, no less!" James and Sirius climbed into the boat together, followed hastily by Peter and Remus, who looked too scared of the prospect of complete strangers to find another boat.

James looked at the looming castle, butterflies back in his stomach. What if he wasn't in Gryffindor? Or worse, what if he got sorted into Slytherin? He was reminded instantly of Lily and Snivellus, he got the feeling that he wouldn't be accepted in Slytherin…

The feeling of worry seemed to ebb and then grow in all of the four boys, each had a secret, and to be accepted was all that they wanted.

The boats docked and the hoards of students were lead to the castle. As they got closer they were stunned by the sheer size of the building, and then soon the grandeur of the place. Most of the students were pointing at one thing or another, awed looks on their faces, until a prim looking young lady wearing bottle green robes and a black hat coughed for their attention.

"My name is Professor McGonagall. When you make your way into the great hall you will line up, when your name is called, you will proceed to the chair on the raised platform, where you will be sorted." Everybody gave eager nods and walked on to the hall behind McGonagall.

The great hall was, well, great. The dark starry sky above was magnificent, the light of the artificial stars illuminating the long wood tables. All of a sudden the ratty hat on the stool started to sing. _Ah…so this is the sorting hat! _Thought an excited James, his thoughts were mirrored by Sirius.

Once the sorting hat had finished it's song and every one had clapped, McGonagall finally started calling out names.

"_Sirius Black!_" Cried her sharp voice. Sirius walked tentatively up to the chair and then placed the battered hat on his head, he stared up at the rim.

"Hmmm… not like the rest of your family are you? Not as cowardly. But smart, very smart, how about… Ravenclaw?" The hat deliberated. _No, not Ravenclaw! Please, I want to be in Gryffindor…_ Sirius prayed. "Not Ravenclaw, eh? Alright then, GRYFFINDOR!" The hat bellowed, and Sirius felt a huge surge of relief as the Gryffindor's clapped, the Slytherins, however, did not look happy, in fact, they looked cheated, he also noticed his cousin Bellatrix sneering at him.

There where a few names called after, some rather obscure, but Sirius couldn't help but feel a little lonely while other people got sorted into houses, neither James nor Remus had been sorted yet.

"_Remus Lupin!"_ The shrill voice called, Remus stood stock still for a moment, seemingly unable to move, someone gave him a shove and he was forced to take the steps to the hat. He didn't know what house he wanted to be in, and he certainly didn't think he had the right qualities for any of the houses.

Before he knew it, the hat had been placed on his head, and the hat was speaking softly in his ear, "A werewolf? Never had the pleasure of meeting one of you before," Remus could have sworn the hat was grinning, "Well, you're definitely not a Slytherin," it gave a light chuckle, "GRYFFINDOR!" Remus almost fainted with happiness as he saw Sirius clearing room on the seat next to his own for him.

"Hey," Sirius said softly as Remus sat next to him, "I'm glad to see a familiar face." And then broke into a lopsided grin.

"Funny, I really didn't expect to be in Gryffindor." Remus consoled in Sirius, although his mind was still puzzling over how the hat knew he was a werewolf, was he that obvious? He hoped not.

"Got to have more confidence, Remus," Remus jumped, thinking that Sirius had read his thoughts, if he didn't act more confident, everyone would _know_ he was a werewolf.

_He was only talking about you being in Gryffindor…_ Remus told himself.

"Peter Pettigrew? Where are you Peter? I will not call you again!" Shouted McGonagall, looking extremely cross with Peter, who was staring dazedly at the ceiling, hypnotized. Peter seemed to come to his senses all of a sudden, and scampered up to the hat, placing it on his head eagerly, _you really can only describe him as a rat_, thought Sirius.

The hat appeared to have a rather long chat with Peter. Peter was red in the face from what could only be thinking, and by the end of his sorting, Peter looked rather embarrassed. "GRYFFINDOR!" Sirius and Remus clapped hard, their palms were beginning to sting.

Peter ran down and sat opposite the two other boys, "Isn't it great? We can all be in Gryffindor together!" Inwardly, Sirius was groaning, but for Peter and Remus' sake he plastered on a smile.

"I wonder when James will be sorted." Remus said rather too cheerfully, just then, he last boy's name was called. James almost ran to the platform, but restrained himself, and instead took lots of far-too-long strides. All his new friends waited for him at the long wooden table, and he looked at the red and gold flags with a sort of lust, he was going to sit there with them, whether the hat liked it or not.

Fortunately, the hat agreed with James, he was to sit on that table, with those flags, and those friends for seven beautiful years.

Lily Evans, the red head from the train, was a Gryffindor, her friend Severus, was not, and was instead sorted into Slytherin, this had made James grin sloppily, for no reason that he was quite aware of. The three other new Gryffindor girls were Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadows and Alice Prewett. Lily was having mixed feelings, wondering if she was ever going to be able to talk properly with Severus again, and upset that she was with that prat James and, while she still felt she got on okay with the Gryffindor girls, she didn't know if they were quite the same as Severus.

Altogether, it would be a long five years before anything started to change…


End file.
